JoeClone, thanks for the clicky. Jon, you're right - it is subjective. Barney McKenna, Mick Moloney, Seamus Egan, Peter Fitzgerald, Pat Cavanagh - each has his adherents. (I'm a Barney man myself.) But I had the pleasure of jamming with Chris at the NTIF last year, and I was astounded at what he was doing on the banjo, and it was in standard 5-string Bluegrass tuning, too. He also has a custom-made instrument that's a bouzouki with a five-string neck, on which he also plays Celtic tunes. A certifiable musical wizard IMO. I gotta go bring my Weymann tenor in for some minor repairs. See ya.

Seamus